Based On a True Story

 

Is Based on a True Story/D´après une histoire vraie by Delphine de Vigan a memoir or a work of fiction. Does L. really exist? Is her character based on someone De Vigan knows in real life? What is real? Real life, to be more precise?

The times we are living are redefining reality. Reality seen as what you can personally check, through snippets shared on social media, reality shows - the voice of the novel is interested to write a novel taking place within the realm of a reality show - ´live´. We want the proof that the things we are told about, ´really´ took place. The discussion about how much personal inspiration is in a work of literary ficiton is old and will never completely get away from the list of critical topics included in a literary overview.

De Vigan´s book pushes the limits of creativity, with an eclectic mix of genres and a prose - I´ve read the book in the original French language - that is alone entincing. The topic adds to the literary fascination that kept me interested until the very end - ´Fin´ with a star. Actually, almost forgot what does it mean to read a book where one keep asking questions all the time, a book that from one chapter to the other is unclear what really happens - how far L. will go, why she accepted her into her literary life, will a confrontation finally take place? -, what is the ´reality´ of the book, where the story goes. At least, it is a first person story which means that at least the author will survive until the end of it.

Literature should not leave us indifferent towards life, but no matter how ´real´ the experiences we based our writing on - after all, there is always some research involved while writing a novel, and this research is the ´real flesh´ of the story - fiction rules. Our ´real´ lives are mostly based on memories which are filtered fragments of reality. Also a kind of fiction.

Rating: 4.5 stars